Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-09-03

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Suddenly the rose, end laid her
hands 1tpon Lco's goldcn curts.
other until She sent word tnau II was TO
stop, and then they instantly ceased. That
and the fever which they caught in cross
ing the swamps vas what kept their num-
bers from increasing too much. They had
no connection with any other race; indeed,
zone lived near them. or We're able to
thread the vast swamps. Once an army
from the direction Of the great river {pre-
sumabiy the Zambesi) had attempted to
attack them, but they got lost in the
marshes, and at night, seeing the great
balls OF fire hat move about there, tried
to come to them, thinking that it was the
enemy's camp, and half OF them were
drowned. AS for the rest, they soon died
Of fever and starvation, not n blow being
struck at them. The marshes, she old Us,
were absolutely impossible except to those
who knew the paths, adding, what l could
well believe, that we should never have
reached this place where we then were had
we not been brought there.
These and many other things we learned
from Ustane during the four days pause
| before our real adventures began, and, as
may he imagined, they gave us considera.
bic cause for thought. The whole thing
was exceedingly remarkable, almost in.
credibly so, indeed, and the oldest part of
it was that SO far it did more or less CORE
spond to he ancient writing on the sherd.
And now it appeared that there was a
mysterious queen clothed by rumor with
awful and wonderful attributes, and iii
| monty known by the impersonal but to my
mind rather awesome title OF she. Alto
Cether, | could not make L out, nor could
Leo, though Of course be was exceedingly
triumphant over me because ! had persist.
emily Knocked at the whole thing. AS for
Job. he had long since abandoned any al.
tempt to call his reason his oWn, aud left
il to drift upon the sea of circumstance.
Nahomed, the Arab, who was, by the way,
treated civilly, indeed, but with chilling
contempt, by the Amahaggcr, was, | dis
covered. in Il great fright, though | could
NOT quite make out what be was fright
ened about. He would sit croUched up in
Il corner of the cave all day long, calling
upon Allah and the Prophet to protect him
When | pressed him about ii, he said that
he was afraid because these people were
not men and women at all, but devils, an0
that this was an enchanted land; ard, upon
my word, once or twice ST. e then / have
been inclined 10 agree wiz him. And &C
the time went on till the nl,ht Of the fourth
day after Rillali hal left, when something
happened.
We three and Ustane were sitting round
| the fire IN the cave just before bedtime
when suddenly the woman, who had been
brooding in silence, rose, and aid hei
hands upon Leo'S golden curls and ad'
dressed him. Even now when | shut my
eyes ! can see her proud imperial form
clothed alternately in dense shadow anC
the red Pickering Of the fire, as she stood
the wild center of as weird Il scene lis }
ever witnessed, and delivered herself Of
the burden of her thoughts and forebod
ings in il kind of rhythmical speech that
ran something as follows:
Thou art my choscn-l have waited for thee
from the beginning.
Thou art very beautiful. Who hath halr like
unto thee, or skin SO white.
Who hath so strong an arm? who is so much a
manp
Thine eyes arc the sky, and the light in them
is the stars.
Thou art perfect and Of a happy face, and my
heart turned itself toward thee.
Az. when mine eyes fell on thee, dld desire
thee
1 IttN tlu | takn tnCc 10 Wc-iUou, lily Dffbtth,
And hold thee fast, lest harm should comeunto
thee.
Ay, / did cover thine head with mine hair, lest
the sun should strike IL;
And altogether was l thine, and thou vast al
together mine.
And so it went for a little space, till Time was
i'm labor with an evil Day;
! And then what hetcll upon that day? Alas!
my Beloved, | know not.
But l., Isaw thee no morc-i. | was lost In the
blaekness.
And she who IS stronger did take thee; ay, she
who is fairer than I-tauc.
Yet didSt thou turn and call upon me, ana let
thine eyes wander IN the darkness,
But, nevertheless. She prevailed by Beauty,
and lcl thee down horrible places;
And then, nh! then, my Beloved
Here this extraordinary woman broke off
her speech, or chant, which was SO much
musical gibberish to US, for all we under
stood of what she was driving at, and
seemed to fix her flashingeyesu upon thedeep
shadow before her. All in a moment they
acquired n vacant, terrified stare, as though
they were trying to realize some half-secn
horror. She lifted her hand from Leo's
head, and pointed into the darkness. We
all looked, but could see nothing; but she
saw something, or thought she lid, and
something evidently that affected even her
iron nerves, for, without another sound,
down she fell senseless between us.
Leo, who was growing really attached
to this remarkable young person, was in a
great state of alarm and distress, and !, to
be perfectly candid, was III u condition not
far removed from superstitious fear. The
whole scene was an uncanny one.
Presently, however, size recovered, and
sat up with an extraordinary ~convulsive
shudder.
"What didst thou mean, Ustane?" asked
Leo, who, thanks to years OF tuition, spoke
Arabic very prettily.
"Nay, my chosen" she answered, with a
little forced laugh, IL did but sing unto
thee after the fashion Of my people. Sure
ly / meant nothing. How could | speak OF
that which is not YETI"
"And what didst thou see, UstaneX'
asked, looking her sharply in the face.
"Nay,' she answered again; Il saw
raught. Ask me rot what / saw. Why
should l fright yer" And then turning
to Leo with a look of the most utter ten
derness that l ever saw upon the face OF
woman. civilized or savage, she took his
head between her hands, and kissed him
on the forehead as a mother might. "When
/ am gone from thee, my chosen; when al
night thou stretchest out thine hand and
canst not find me, then shouldst thou think
at times of me, for Of q truth / love thee
well, though | be not fit to wash thy feet